From Genesis To Acts: Why Pentecost Still Matters

Pentecost isn’t a vibe or a tradition for us, it’s a line in the sand: the Spirit who hovered over the waters in Genesis is the same Spirit who fills the upper room in Acts chapter 2. We start with Scripture, follow the biblical calendar to Pentecost Sunday, and connect creation to the birth of the church. Our conviction is simple and weighty: the Holy Spirit is not an optional add-on, and the church is not meant to be powered by personality, pressure, or performance. 

From Genesis 1, we talk about identity and why it has become such a flashpoint across culture and within the church in the UK. We explore the Bible’s language of male and female, and we ask what happens when a society disconnects identity from creation. We also reflect on how symbols and naming shape spiritual imagination, including a discussion about Israel, the use of the rainbow, and the way pride is framed and celebrated in public life. You’ll hear strong opinions, but the underlying aim is to push us back to Scripture and honest self-examination. 

We then land in Acts 1 and Acts 2, where the church is born through waiting, prayer, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We contrast the kingdom of God with religion that controls, and we talk about discernment, especially where church culture becomes showy, manipulative, or unbiblical. We close with communion at the Passover table, prayer for those watching online, and a reminder that redemption runs from Genesis to Revelation. 

Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share this with someone who’s asking big questions about identity and faith, and leave a review to help others find the podcast. What part of Pentecost do you most need to recover right now?

Transcript

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Pentecost Sunday And Scripture Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Sisters and brothers, let's turn to scripture, let's turn to the word of God. Yes, it is uh as we look at the biblical calendar, as we look at the calendar itself, and we use the mathematics, not that we uh we use uh numerology because we're not in a numerology whatsoever, but when you look at the facts and the figures, we actually land on um Pentecost and we land on Pentecost Sunday. So we're gonna turn to Acts, we're gonna go to the book of Acts, chapter one, Acts chapter two. Please, by all means, you know, read ahead and find it for yourself. And uh for those online, I pray that you can hear me right now. Again, I've got to mention this is really, really critical. So we are gonna read from Acts chapter one and we are gonna go to Genesis chapter one as well. So uh, Genesis chapter one, as you look at Genesis chapter one, so maybe you put your hand in uh the book of Acts, but in Genesis chapter one, I just want to read out two scriptures, two reference points, and Genesis chapter one. Uh, let's take it up from verse one. I'm gonna read Genesis chapter one, verse one, and it says, In the beginning, God created. I must understand that God is the creator, He has not been created, He is the ultimate, there is no one higher than the Deity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Genesis chapter one, verse one, it says, In the beginning God created, and then it says, the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was hovering over the surface of the deep, and then we read the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. So suddenly we see straight away the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we study, we read and we look at the power of the Holy Spirit and where we sit today. So when you if you was to gather a timeline, you're in the region of around about, I think we're in the region around about 4,030 years from the next scripture that we're gonna go from. So from where we are at this moment, what that we've got a timeline that we'll we'll gather where we are in a moment, but I just want to make sure that we clearly see what it says. So the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water. So there we see, what do we see? We see the Holy Spirit, we see the Spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit is from Genesis all the way to Revelation, but you've got certain people out there that will try and tell you that the Holy Spirit was only uh prominent up in the New Testament. Well, let's correct this right now. The Holy Spirit was at the very beginning of time, the Holy Spirit was before time, the Holy Spirit is time itself. The Holy Spirit is God, God is the Spirit, Jesus, they're all woven into it, they're all woven in, and we can depict by theological depths that we understand through the deity. We see Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but you cannot get away from the fact that the Holy Spirit was at the very beginning of time. So then we just turn the page gently. Let's turn into Genesis, staying in Genesis chapter 1, verse 27. We've got to look at this because this is this is present and correct and true for where we are. And it says, So God created man in his own image. So there we see uh the XX, and suddenly we start to see the XY starting to come into play. So we have from the very beginning of time the Holy Spirit, and we just have mal and female, and then we go a little bit further, and it says, In uh the image of God, he created him, mal and female. Now let's turn. Now I won't read out too much about this one, but Genesis chapter 19. If we turn to Genesis chapter 19, it's about Sodom and Gomorrah. When you read about Sodom and Gomorrah, I won't read it out because we've got little people in the house as well. It's quite a graphical read, but Genesis chapter 19. Uh, and if we was to pick the text up, Genesis chapter 19, we read, let's just check. We are looking at around about verse 5, around about say verse 3 and 5, and it says, uh, and it's talking about the heavenly hosts that come down to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah. And what did they have to do at Sodom and Gomorrah? They had to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because there was acts going on that wasn't absolutely correct, right, and true. So when we look at the word of God, the word of God talks about Israel, Jerusalem, Judea. It talks about that as what? The Holy Land. So when you look at the Holy Land, what does it depict? It depicts the power of God. So, and then we talk about in Genesis as well, we talk about the flood, that God was so frustrated and angry that he brought

The Holy Spirit At Creation

SPEAKER_00 4:30

the flood. And then what would be the sign? What would be a sign that the rainbow? We we understand the rainbow. So there's a bit of a thought pattern that we're just gently moving on. So we know it as the holy land. We understand that God revealed himself through scripture, we understand that where we sit today, Pentecost Sunday, we understand what where we sit in the chronological timeline. So from where we look at when God created man and female, mal and female, God created XX and XY on that great day, right up until the birth of the church, we've got about 4,030 years. We've got a timeline, and amongst that timeline, there has been a fight on the earth between Mal and female, God, and everything that's been going on. And Israel, so Israel has fought its way all the way through, right from the very, very beginning of time. So what we see across the world and then and the news, this is nothing new under the sun. Israel has always fought itself, always protected itself, and we know it as the Holy Land. But there is an event coming up on the 1st of June, and between the 1st of June and the 4th of June, and we understand it called the Holy Land. But there is going to be a certain agenda coming from a certain type of person, and it's going to be called Pride Land. And where you watch that pride land that's coming out, the the biggest gay festival that's happening from Tel Aviv that's ever seen is right in the face, and guess where it sits? Geographically, it sits right within the region of Sodom and Gomorrah. And in the text of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, it basically says this. I will be careful because we've got little ears in the house and everyone online. The scripture says that two angels came down, and by the way, I would love to meet those two angels. Imagine what they must have been like, the size of those heavenly hosts. And then Lot comes into the arena, and we know Lot's got a lot of things going on in his life. The Bible says he was a righteous man, but he could have gone anywhere he wanted to go. And where did he go and park his life? Right in the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah. So there was a tendency, an unusual tendency in Lot's life. So we we we can watch the characters and the certain things of people through the scripture. But the Bible says Lot was a righteous man and he took his family right into the most depravative part of the world that you could ever watch, the most darkest part of what was happening. So God sent two heavenly hosts down to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah and to get Lot out. And very interesting, the Bible says, I don't want to come off track, and the Bible says that the angel had to get hold of Lot's hand and drag him out the area of what? Depravity. He didn't want to leave. Lot said, get yourself out of here, get your girls, get your family, and get going. But Lot had to have the heavenly hosts be dragged drag him out of the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah. So when you study Sodom and Gomorrah and where it sits uh geographically and and on the map, and you look at where this pride festival is going to be, very interesting as well. They're using the word pride land, and very interesting that they've taken the rainbow flag. So what we what what we see here is a complete militant group, Paul. A militant group coming against the word of God. They're angry and frustrated, but you can't change your biological pro profile. You you whatever you come out of the shoot, and whoever you come out as, when you came out of your mother's womb, whatever you came out, your chromosomes tell you what you are. You can have what you want, and you can have this push there, that tuck there, that poked up there. You can have everything done, you can take every tablet under the sun, but you cannot change the fact that you are either XX or XY. So in the beginning of time, God has always had this, I will use the word wrestle. God has always had a wrestle with humanity. First, they take they take the rainbow situation and add a colour to that. Then they take other areas of biblical stuff and add to that. And then suddenly, for the first time, we see they're having a four-day festival right in the Holy Land, but they've changed it to Pride Land. So from the very beginning of time, you watch a fight of this militant group, or whatever way you want to look at it, all the way up right up to now. So we're four, four thousand years up to the day of Pentecost. Now, from now to where we are, we might have around about 2,600 years. So when you bolt everything together, you've got almost like 6,700 years where God has been wrestling with man and woman, this and that, and Israel. So we're talking about years of wrestling. So it's really important because it ties in what with what the the the court, the high court, has done and has gone in favor on very, very sensibly gone on the biological sex of the toilets. This is this is critical. The reason I have to mention this and be so blunt and to the point of it is because this is where we sit. So the question I have is are we living again in a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah? Everything goes the other week or a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the scriptures that was reflecting on are we living in a modern day Babylon? When you look at society and culture, so there's always been a press against creation. Education is always trying to prove that God's word is not correct. But God said, Let's make man in our image, and he made male and he created female. But then we have an identity crisis.

Genesis, Humanity, And Moral Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 10:20

We have an identity crisis in the nation in which we live. Every area of life, there is an identity crisis. We have lost the rhythm of who we really are. The church doesn't actually know who it is, and it's got nothing to do with the biological conversation, it's got to do with who is the church. So the church has lost its identity. So, right from the very beginning of time, you've watched this identity crisis. But if you know who you are in Christ Jesus, and then we come up to where we are. So when you look at these scriptures, we look at Genesis and it says the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface. Then we stay in the same chapter and we jump to creation and we are still, you are still in creation. God said, Let's create. So God created man and he created man in his image. So when you look at what we look at in the biological war that's going on, suddenly what would we see? We have this very dangerous area where man is trying to take away what God created. So there you have a biological war trying to prove so many things about what is going on. But God is, and God is a man, but you might say, Yeah, but God is spirit, yeah, God is spirit. But what I what we have to draw a fact to, the biblical references that we quote quite a lot, is coming from the book of Colossians, chapter 1, 15 and 20. Christ is the image of the invisible God. So when you look at this and you look at the makeup of a human being, when you look at the physical makeup from every beautiful part of a human being, from head to toe, the inside, the outside, God created. So, right from the very beginning point, and right now for education, we have certain groups coming against God's creation. But we need to let the children know, and we need to let the world know that the biblical truths are biblical facts. And what you have, when God said, Let's create man in our image, science was being produced there. Because science tells you that you can't swap XX and XY. You are what you are, you can't swap that over. You can put makeup on, you can dress yourself up, you can nip and tuck, poke and push, you can do whatever you want. You can have the hormonal treatment, but it doesn't take away the biblical fact and the science behind the conversation. XX, X, Y. You can't get around that. No scientists in the world will ever be able to come up with that. It's cast from Genesis chapter one. Let's make male and female. So this is where we have the battle. The battle right up to now. So Pentecost is extremely important because when we look at Pentecost and at the cross and the closeness of where we're talking about, there's always been a battle, the battlefield, the biological process. You see that, and I don't want to read too much of that out because there's little people online and there's little ears in the house. But when you read that book of Genesis of Sodom and Gomorrah, the two heavenly hosts come down and they had to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah and do what they had to do, and they draw drew Lot and his family out. But what is the interesting fact in that roundabout verse four and five of Genesis? I think we're in Genesis 19 of that four and five, it says very clearly that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and the young men went to the door of Lot's, and you can read what it says. I don't want to read that out because of the little ones in the house. But it says very clearly, so right at the very point, we have an issue going on right the way through. So there is nothing new under the sun. So suddenly we find ourselves living in a nation known as the UK, where we have a government that has lost their identity. And I'm not talking about biologically, I'm talking about who we are and what type of nation. So, very interestingly, where we sit in the timeline of history according to the word, and where we sit regarding the birth of the church. So now we get up. So we suddenly see the Holy Spirit is at Genesis chapter 1, you can't escape the fact. And then uh 4,030 years from the point of creation of man up until the birth of the church, that we're going to go to the book of Acts now, we find that there's been a battle in between. But what's really interesting, when you read Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2 about the birth of the church, you will find it says the men and the women, the XX and the XY, were praying together. See what you find, and then suddenly coming out later on, so suddenly we find the birth of the church, the birth of the church through the power of the Holy Spirit, Acts 1, Acts chapter 2, God says through Christ Jesus, wait, I'm going to send you a gift. So when you look at these scriptures, you find that there's a battle all the way through. Identity battle, religious battle. You find so much sort of stuff. Even with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they when Jesus came into the arena and they started to realize Jesus, who Jesus was, they were starting to be fearful of the territory. That's why they because they they they was losing their identity because this healer, this they called him the magic man, the man of the way. If he gets into our synagogues, if this Jesus gets in, it's game over. So they're the ones that took him to the cross. So we have all the way through the word of God, we have an identity crisis in many areas of life, and we have lost the identity of the true church in the UK and in the West. We have lost our foundational point, and we've gone off over that area, we've taken a tablet for this, we've gone over that area and had a bit of surgery over there, and we're trying to make ourselves into something that we're not. The church is not the representation of what the church was birthed into, into the book of Acts. Because if you look at the the church, the early church, what did the early church do? They gather for prayer and for breaking of bread.

Pride Land, The Rainbow, And Israel

SPEAKER_00 16:40

The apostles' teaching. They did not come away from the apostles' teaching. They God created heaven and earth, and that was it. They didn't come away from creation. And what we've got to remind ourselves, they didn't have the New Testament, because the New Testament was being written as they spoke, because they were the New Testament. So all they had to go on was the law and what was written, as we know the old scriptures, the Old Testament. So they didn't have the New Testament, they never read about the Holy Spirit, they never read what we read. They was actually, as they was breathing, living, eating, and walking, the New Testament was being brought into existence. So as they started preaching, the New Testament was coming in. So the New Testament wasn't even in existence. They just had the law and the Torah. So what did they have? They had the law, and then they had creation, so they didn't come away from the fundamental points of what was given. But then all of a sudden, the church is birthed, the birth of the Pentecost, where we are today, the birth of the church, the outpouring of what? The outpouring of religion, no. The outpouring of what? The Spirit of God. Where do we read about the Holy Spirit? We read about that in Genesis 4,000 years ago. We read about the Holy Spirit was at creation, the Holy Spirit was before time, before this little mortal teaser of a world came into existence. The Holy Spirit and Christ and God was before time. They're outside of time, they're outside of the weather structure, they're outside of the universes, they're outside of everything. Too big for the human mind and the concept of science and religion and mathematics trying to work this God out. So there's always been a battle, a religious battle, a biological battle, a spiritual battle. There's always been a battle, and you've only got to look at Nephilium. When you study Nephilium and what Nephilium done and what they were bred for and what happened, you find a crossover. You find a crossover of a certain area of life. So when you watch and you study that, you see extreme extremities of what we have today. So there is nothing new under the sun. Then suddenly we get to Acts. We get to Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. And as we read it, we read very, very clearly. And it says verse 12 of Acts chapter 1. Then they return to Jerusalem. So what is happening? I believe it's next week. I've might have got me date. Yeah, I know what the 28th is, because British Gas. I just want to tell you, saying, you're really pulling our trousers down, right? That's when the electric goes out. The 28th, I know when the 28th is, and that's Thursday. May God bless all the shareholders in British Gas. So, right, so the 28th is Thursday, and then the 1st of June to the 4th of June is Pride. Pride land. Isn't it interesting? Just after the festival that we've got now, just after the festival, the flag is out. The rainbow flag, we see that biblically. We understand what the rainbow flag was biblically. We understand how the pride of taken it. They could have taken any other flag, anything else around the world, but they have to come to the God of Israel. And right in the face of God, from the first to the fourth, we had the one of the biggest festivals right in the holy land, but they can't use the word holy because they are a militant group and they are completely opposing the word of God. So they've got to change it to pride. What is the biggest sin that God says is across the world? Pride. That is the biggest biblical sin. The biggest sin that you will ever have is the pride of man. You could have called it any other name, you could have called it pink, but it had to be pride because the word pride is punching right into that area of biblical theological depth. So when you take pride and you understand what pride means, and I understand there is every family under the sun that has got some some form of rhythm happening almost under your roof. So there's it's not, and I understand it myself, trust me. Please trust me, I understand what we are talking about. I really, really do. So when you look at this, we have the word pride, you have the word holy, you have a land, they could have gone anywhere else, there's meant, but they need to go to the Dead Sea because that pride is actually dead. So when you look and the biblical and the spiritual implications of what's going on, it's very interesting that the geographics is the landing point is right within the festival area of Sodom and Gomorrah, right in that right in that geographical place. So when you look at what's going on, so today we're celebrating. In the birth of the church. And that will go on for a little bit more according to the biblical calendar. And then when you work out the time, when you start to see the preaching by the disciples, when they start to preach and you work out and you look at the timeline, it hits the exact same sort of point of the 1st of June to the 4th of June. Right in the spiritual power of Israel. Now we've got another force coming against it. So we are living in very powerful, strong days. But when you look at the scripture and you look at the timeline of God and you look at the timeline of the devil, the devil is always trying to copy God's timeline. The devil is always trying to destroy what God has done. The devil has always tried to destroy creation. There's always been an area where the devil has always tried to get under and get onto God's territory. You've only got to look at when Christ goes into the wilderness. Who shows up? The Pope ain't about because he wasn't created at that point. You don't get Canterbury, you don't get Elam, you don't get no one. Who do you get at a point when you could say, when you could say Jesus was at, I'll use the word weakness because we we we can correlate and we can get an understanding. When he was at his most vulnerable, when at a point he was at his most spiritual

Identity Crisis In Church And Nation

SPEAKER_00 23:50

sharpest, but when you're at your spiritualist sharpest, that is when you find you come under attack. So when Christ, very interestingly, now Jesus was baptized in the in the River Jordan. Who baptized him? John the Baptizer, not John the Baptist, because if I use the word Baptist, I'm referring to a movement, the Baptist movement. But he was known as John the Baptizer. And look, what did he say when he when Jesus came round the corner? Look, the Lamb of God. So John was referencing as Christ as a sacrificial lamb. Then Jesus gets baptized. The Bible says that heaven is torn open, a dove descends. We we hear and we know what the scripture says about that particular point of the biblical reference. But what happens is it says Jesus was led. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit. And he was led into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. And when he was led, he was led into that spiritual stretching. Who shows up? Lucifer. Who shows up at the Passover table at another critical point? Lucifer, it says Satan was sitting there waiting for the opportunity to enter into the body of Judas Iscariot. So what we have is from Genesis, from creation, right up until the return of Christ, we have this, I will use the word battle. And when you look at battles and the way uh you talk about spiritual battles in the heavenly realms. So today, as we reflect and as we celebrate and as we read the scriptures on the birth of the church, so for 313 years, I believe, from the point of the cross to the birth of the church, till the crazy uh Pope suddenly comes along and makes makes up religion and he starts to bring in religion 313 years out of Rome and everything that goes along, suddenly we see the church takes on a different face. That's why we've got distortion now. So when the world looks at the church, it just looks at Canterbury and Catholicism and he thinks that's that's what it is when actually it isn't. It actually isn't. So we all get tired with the same crazy brush. So what we need to do is we need to find out who we are in Christ Jesus because the scripture is always referring to an is to an undercurrent of who are you in Christ? I am redeemed, I am a child of the living God. When the fall of humanity in Genesis, Genesis, uh you read that very clearly, the fall of humanity, there was a plan put in place, and it was the redemption plan, not the religious plan. Again, starts off the same. Redemption begins with an R, religion begins with an R. There's always a there's always a copying. The devil is always trying to copy and outdo what God has already done. So you look at the flag, you look at the holy land, you look at the biological conversation, you look at the the one of the bigger conversation over the biological conversation is creation. That is one of the biggest conversations that throws actually education out. Because if you add the timeline up, you'd have to check it. But we're in the region of around about 6,700 to 7,000 years old as as the earth, and that's what I believe. You online are in the house, you might think I'm off my rocker, but that's what I actually believe. And if I was to add it up, we would we are a young earth. We are not what the what we are taught at children at school because there is no data, there is no clear facts, it is a theory. See, with education, everything is theatrical, theatrical, you know, it is always a theory, it is always a theory. You but with with the word of God, there is something very interesting with the word, you'll always go back, and in the timeline, you've got human beings right to the point of where God goes to. So you have history, you have biblical evidence, you have outside biblical knowledge. So when you talk about theories to do with the string theory, when you talk about all the theories of what they are teaching the children, it is just theories, it is just blackboard and easel, it is just crowns, it is mathematics. But but what's very interesting around what they teach the children, it changes almost every curriculum year. The dates move, the dates move, the dates move, and it's like the political language, situational ethics, the politicians will change it, so it sits their situation, it don't sit ours. So it's the same with education. Education and the timeline of education is always changing, or as the language they use, we're evolving, it's always evolving, the world is just evolving, it's just naturally. So the question is is if we've come from monkeys and apes, how like some of them have stayed apes and monkeys and are broke free. Well, I need a shave, but you know what I mean. So that that's that's so why is it on that t-shirt that they wear that if we have evolved from an ape and a monkey, some made it, some didn't. Oh, wonder what that really they'll come up with the answer, and I know what it is, and I ain't got time to go into that. So the word the evolve, the word evolving is a very interesting word and where it comes from and the connotations that it has. See, I just want to let the world know that I haven't evolved from bananas and monkeys. I was created by the Creator. I am filled with the Holy Spirit that was at Genesis chapter 1. And you have to be careful how you use that language because when you start talking about the Holy Spirit, they think you're gonna roll on the floor and start doing crazy things. What it means is to be filled with the deity, to be filled with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. It's a simple understanding, it doesn't make us crazy, it doesn't make us odd, but it's very interesting that the Holy Spirit isn't in Catholicism, the Holy Spirit isn't in religion because you can't control God and you can't control the Holy Spirit. So this is the very interesting fact that I haven't even had time to get to the scripture that we're supposed to be in. But when you look at the birth of the church, the birth of the church was birthed through instruction to stay where you are, don't move, wait. I've got a gift, a gift that is going to be given to you, a free gift, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It's very interesting. The Bible says that they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Where do we hear that again? We hear that again at the Tower of Baal. God says he came down and he went, What are they doing

Religion, Education, And Competing Timelines

SPEAKER_00 30:40

down here? And that is very interesting where we see the scatter of humanity, where we start to see the race of humanity, the colours, the tribes, the languages coming out of. So out of the tower of Baal, suddenly we see the change in the geographical press of humanity. It was focused in one place. When they did what they did in Genesis, God came down and then he scattered them across the world. So that's how we have a scattering of the different languages. When you study language and where it where they all come from, guess where everybody comes back to? The timeline, the exact geographical place of the Tower of Baal. There was one language, God comes down and he gives different languages. So there we see the birth of the human race as in the language changing. So there is always a biblical reference. But you but when you look at referencing with education and and and theories, a theory will go on forever because there's no one that can prove that. See, the word of God isn't a theory. Because what the Bible talks about, you will always find a chronological timeline back to someone. But in education, there's no one. The birth of the world was a big bang where two little atoms were just floating about, just buzzing around, and they've got all this eternity far beyond, and they suddenly just two bump into each other, but they've got the whole world and beyond, but suddenly I suppose they're going down little to get their shopping. Oh, or bumped into you, bang. We've got the beginning of time, two atoms, only two, by the way. I wonder where those two come from. It it's just crazy. It's crazy, and it's just like, how can this be? See, the Bible takes you back to a human, to a person, to someone, an eyewitness account, an eyewitness account. Then suddenly, when you look at creation, creation was starting to bring everything into being. We see that we see the foundations of church. Because what are the foundations of church? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is a foundation. And then suddenly we see from Genesis coming right up to Acts chapter 1 and 2, then we have the physical manifestation of the church being birthed. And that's what we have in the Gospel of John. And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So the old sorry, the New Testament turns everything, let's use this word, the Old Testament turns everything that was spoken about spiritually. The New Testament turns it into the physical representation. It gives you the concrete evidence to understand, and it brings the old with the new, the new with the old. So when you look at where we sit today, Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, sorry, verse 1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly the sound of a violent blowing wind came out of heaven, filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seems to be tongues of fire separated and came to rest on all of them. All of them were filled. Now that line alone we can talk about forever. Because in the kingdom of God, everyone walks with Jesus. Everyone is filled with the Holy Spirit. Everyone has the deity. In the kingdom, the kingdom is different to religion. So sorry, 313 years after the cross, we suddenly start to find that Rome starts to make its own church. Then it comes across the shore of the UK. And suddenly we get the birth of the Church of England. It's very, very interesting that there was 313 years after the cross, the birth of the church, where the church was moving in the spirit and in the power. And then when 313 years hit the timeline of Jerusalem and it all shifted for because of the Roman Empire and everything like that, suddenly we find that there is a shift between the Church of Jesus Christ and the Church of Man. See, the Church of Man cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit, it means you need to be chosen. You need to be chosen. There are uncountable people online right now that have never been to church that God loves and God has chosen and God has filled you with the Holy Spirit. You've never stepped into church. You never even thought about Jesus, but you're marked before the very beginning of time. Just because we're in church doesn't mean to say that we are Christians. When you understand what the word Christian means, Christ in you. So when you look at everything, you know, and it's been a long, long stretch to get to this point, but today we reflect and we be still on the on the birth of the church of Jesus Christ. But then from that point upwards, them years after that, suddenly we find the distortion and religion comes in the arena. So the question is as we come to the table now, I know where we are, I know where we sit. We sit in the church of Jesus Christ, in the kingdom of God. Because there's the kingdom and there's religion. You can't you can't worship, the Bible says you can't worship another human being. You can't lift up another human being and pray to and through. This is the area that we have in religion where and we they might say back to us, well, you worship Jesus. I do worship Jesus, he's the creator of heaven and earth, he's fully God and fully man. But if I was to worship Mary, I would be worshiping the mother of Jesus. If I was in other religions, I would look to the man because they are human beings, but we don't have the time, and I've got to be careful, I don't go down a rabbit hole and leave us hanging to that degree. We're gonna break bread. And what we are doing right now, you know, we are Bible-believing believers, and to be born again

Acts 2 Power And Discernment

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means to have salvation come from above. Nothing crazy about that, nothing odd out there. You've got pastors and leaders, and you know, we've been going around where certain parts and certain areas of church where the pastor takes his coat off and he waves his coat and they all fall out because the Holy Spirit's in his coat. You the stuff on social media, if you're having a bad day, you've only got to love a look and it'll cheer you right up. So we've got all this crazy stuff going on where pastors are taking their coat off and they're waving their coat to the congregations, and the congregations are falling out. You know, and it's just it's just crazy. You won't find no biblical evidence for none of that. Jesus didn't didn't take his coat off and go, Well, have some of that, and they all pass out. What does it say? It says Jesus breathed on them, received the Holy Spirit, and then we have that very powerful area where the Pentecostal and church areas of where pastors blow on you. Where pastors blow on you. You think, God, mate, you could have brushed your teeth today, quite soul form. Where you know, and they and then they pass out. It's it's you you've got to please Lord give us a health check to do with all this stuff, Jesus. You've got to be really careful. The Bible says, watch out, watch out for those those wolves that are dressed in sheep's clothing. Watch out. And then you've got certain ministries not too long ago, then big celebrity ministries where they would hit you and push you, and a certain person from a certain nation got into the area of where he punched people and he and punching people. I'm not surprised you're out on your back because you just punched me on the chin. It's got nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. When you look at the birth of the church, it says the spirit of God come from above, and it sat and it rested on all of them, and it enabled them. See, the spirit enables, man controls, religion controls, religion, you know, cannot enable because the enablement only becomes can come from above. Because when the spirit descends on you, it enables you, the Holy Spirit enables you to do things outside of the natural realm. Then we have to be careful how we speak because they go, Pastor Benny's talking about doing supernatural things. He's a he's but we've got to be careful how you use the the language of scripture. But the Bible says the Spirit of God fell and descended and separated and rested on every one of them in the book of Acts, what seemed to be tongues of fire, and they began to speak in a heavenly language, a language outside of the normal human race. And then we understand that that was questioned. Did you hear them over there? They're drunk over there. Look, they're they're on it, they're on the stellar touris at nine o'clock in the morning. They're speaking all strange in that room over there. Because the world doesn't understand the spiritual language of the word of God. So identity is one of the biggest subjects across the world at the moment. And I'm not talking about biological, I'm talking about who I am within the church because there are more churches than you can count McDonald's drive-throughs, and trust me, I've been through a lot of them. There are so many denominations about so many denominations, so many churches. But the true church, and for everyone online, if you want to know what a true church is, you got to get to the book of Acts. What did they do? The apostles, the teachings, selling everything they had. The Bible says that they sold everything they had, gave it to the poor, went and cooked food, looked after. What is the church doing? The church is the richest, one of the richest landowners across the globe. If you sold just the fine art of the church, you would feed every child in every school in the UK for eternity, just on the fine art they got hanging in the galleries. Every child could be fed forever and a day. See, the religion does the opposite to the scripture. When you study the apostles, the pastors, the teachers, the evangelists, what they done, what they done, anyway. I've got to be careful. There's no way we're gonna get out of this. Right, come on, let's pray and let's uh just come to the table. Father, in the name of Jesus. I'm sorry, I've had to stop it quite sharply because we're just gonna go through. But the birth of the church, Acts chapter 1 and 2, XX and XY were praying. God created the heavens and the earth, and the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the surface of the deep. Then we read it, we read very powerfully the descension of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descended. Very powerful. The church, the early church, that's where I would love to be is following that model. If you could use that, follow the model of the early church, what they done,

Communion And Closing Prayers

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completely the opposite of what we got, completely the opposite of what we got. And the early church was growing at such a rate, it was moving at so much power. And what I what I find absolutely fascinating is we come to the Passover table, there was no Wi-Fi, but the word of God spread around the world like wildfire by the power of what? By the power of speech. See, speech is powerful. When you think about technology, we've only had it a few years in the world, really, and the power of Wi-Fi, and we beam all around the world, 186 countries, 3,700 cities we're in now across the world, but we're only able to do that because of the power of technology and people joining us. But when you think about the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ, there was no electricity, there was no social medias, but the word of God spread so fast and so powerful. Why? Because of the Holy Spirit. The word of God spread around the world rapidly before electricity even came in, it was carried across. Oceans. It was carried across deserts. It was taken to indigenous tribes. It was taken. It spread with no electricity, with no Wi-Fi, with no celebrity pastors, with no aircraft, with no helicopters. The word of God spread so fast. And it is moving right now, so powerfully. That is the birth of the church. The word was not able to be stopped. The word can never be stopped. You'll never stop the power of God's word. It is moving in the persecuted church. Let's pray. Father, we come now to the Passover table. And Lord, we celebrate the Passover. And Father, we thank you for this bread that symbolizes the body of Christ. And as we break this bread and we take this cup, we say, Father, thank you that the body of Christ was broken for us. Whether we're at home right now, whether in the house, I invite you to take this bread and to take this cup and do it in your own rhythm. Father, bless this bread, bless this cup. As I come to you, a sinner saved by grace. Lord, as I take the bread, dip it in the cup, it becomes soft. And I take it, Lord, and I say, Father, thank you that this bread is symbolic. And I thank you that your body was broken in Jesus' name. The Bible says, after supper, he took this cup. And he said, As often as you come together, do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the cup of redemption. The cup of redemption, the redeeming blood of Jesus. We are redeemed. And Genesis talks about redemption at the very beginning. Redemption is the plan from Genesis to revelation, the plan of salvation, the plan of hope, the plan of eternity. So, Father, as I hold this cup, as I take this cup, thank you. Lord, as we take this, and it is the symbol of the blood of Jesus shed at the cross. Amen. We're there, we made it. We're running late. Sorry, we're running late in the name of Jesus. But let's just pray and just close. Father, in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that we're gathered in the house and we're gathered online. And thank you, Lord, that we don't need the church as in the fabric of the building. Because, Lord, through the great book of Acts, the church was built and birthed out of an upper room. So, Lord, we thank you for whatever room everyone is at home right now, or in the van, in the car at home. I pray, dear God, that they will just feel the love of Jesus and the calmness and the presence of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, I pray, Father, as we leave the church today, that your love and your grace will just descend on each and every one of us. Lord, we pray, Lord, for humanity. We pray, dear God, for the lostness that we have around the world. Father, there's just such an area of lost. We are lost. But Lord, I thank you that we know who we are in Christ. That we're sinners saved by grace. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Bless us all, we pray, from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Should we stand and say the Lord's Prayer together? That I should pray as much as I possibly can has got to be this one out of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six. The Lord's Prayer.